Rep. Tim Murphy Urges 21-Day Quarantine for Returning Ebola Doctors

25 Oct 2014

Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) continued his calls for a 21-day quarantine of all Ebola health workers returning to the United States in the wake of New York City receiving its first Ebola case.

In an October 16 letter to President Barack Obama, Murphy outlined a nine-point plan to combat Ebola. Murphy’s first action recommendation was to issue “an immediate ban on non-essential commercial travel from Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.”

Murphy’s second recommendation called for “a mandatory 21-day quarantine order for any American who has treated an Ebola patient, or has traveled to and returned from, the Ebola hot zone countries.”

Murphy’s plan added, “This includes a prohibition of domestic public travel regardless of assumptions that the treating professionals wore or removed all personal protective equipment properly.”

As The Hill reported on Thursday evening, Murphy renewed calls for the Ebola health worker quarantine after news broke that Dr. Craig Spencer, a Doctors Without Borders physician living in New York City, tested positive for Ebola. Despite Spencer’s self-monitoring of his temperature, the doctor rode the subway, dined at restaurants, went jogging, and rode in a taxi during.

Murphy’s proposal is particularly salient given a statement by a Doctors Without Borders official to the Associated Press that no matter what health workers do, there is no way to eliminate all risk.